A calling party initiating a phone call to a destination party is typically provided with a ringback tone until the destination party answers the phone and communication between the calling party and the destination party is established. In the past, a standard ringback tone was provided, such that the same ringback tone was heard by all callers in a telephone network.
More recently, newer services allow a subscriber to customize their ringback tone. Instead of hearing a standard ringback tone, the calling party hears a ringback tone based on, for example, the identity of the calling party, time of day, or other factors. A variety of ringback tones may be provided, including musical songs and advertisements. The subscriber may also record his own ringback tone.
However, current ringback tones are still static and repeating, so the caller hears the same thing over and over with each ring. These sounds can become tedious very quickly, especially if the calling party calls multiple times over a short period of time and has to hear these tones repeatedly. The calling party is also likely to hear the same ringback tone each time he calls because configuring ringback tones can be laborious. Acquiring/downloading new ringback tones, changing them on a regular basis, and assigning them to specific callers is often inconvenient and time consuming. Current ringback tones also do not allow the calling party to perform any action while listening to the ringback tone, except to disconnect the call.